We're facing a tidal change in the way we consume music. The way music is played back has also undergone dramatic change. While wired speakers are traditonal solutions, more and more people are enjoying the benefits of wireless speakers which offer great sound but have added flexibility. Bluetooth connected speakers as well as Sonos' audio-focused network connectors and wireless speakers are great solutions worth checking out to get sound in every room in your home.

byErinLYYC
on ‎10-24-201411:51 AM - last edited on ‎10-27-201410:37 AM by MartinR

You're not quite ready to buy a new TV, and the Blu-ray player you got a few years ago still works great. Buuuuuut... while they're both internet-enabled, you don't have that hard-wired ethernet hook up that they need handy. What to do? Get yourself the new NETGEAR Dual Band Wireless Bridge (WNCE3001), and start connecting easily, and immediately. Click to find out how.

byGraham
on ‎11-27-201309:29 PM - last edited on ‎06-24-201410:53 AM by MartinR

The hardest thing about the Belkin Netcam HD is getting the package open… and even that isn’t that hard. There are three round stickers–you know the type, the ones that are impossible to get a pair of scissors or a knife under? Well, after five minutes of solid picking I managed to get the package open, and that was the end of my difficulties with this product. From there on in I had a chance to get set up with the Belkin Netcam HD… so if you want to know more about it, read on!

byRajio
on ‎06-26-201305:33 PM - last edited on ‎06-27-201309:47 AM by Laura

If you’re looking to increase your Wi-Fi signal, have issues with wifi dead-spots, or just want to make your home network more robust, you’ll want to read on and learn a bit about Powerline technology. Its not something that too many of you are likely to know about already but would probably benefit from down the road. Powerline technology helps you get some of the benefit of a wired home network without having to drill holes and lay cable throughout your house. It makes your existing home power lines function effectively like a local area network (LAN) would.

Probably one of the best ways to enjoy your favourite game console is via a home theatre system. If you're blessed enough to have an amazing setup already, but haven't hooked up your Xbox 360 or PS3, what are you waiting for?!

Today, I'll be talking to you about hooking up the PS3 to your home theatre system and how it can be done in a pinch! Depending on your TV and sound system/receiver you're using, there are a number of ways you can connect the console to your home theatre and enjoy it to its fullest.

Landline phone numbers might seem like something from another era, and in many ways, they are, but if you’ve ever liked the idea of being able to port an existing number to a VoIP service like NetTalk, you now have that option. The company announced that it would enable number porting for landlines over to a NetTalk Duo device, regardless of which company the landline is with, and which version of the Duo you have.

Continuing on our journey to understanding the often mysterious world of advanced home networking, lets take a look at QoS. Last time we checked out Port Forwarding; what is is and how it can help you. It was something that, even if you didn’t know what it was, had likely heard about when trying to troubleshoot your networking issues. QoS is even more obscure though. Chances are you’ve never even heard about it and have no idea what it means. Thats such a shame. Its something that you’ll wonder how you ever did without it once you know how to take advantage of it.

If you’re a Sirius or XM satellite radio subscriber, you may already know what’s coming, but even if you don’t, or even if you’re thinking about signing up, new features and service expansion might sweeten the deal. The new features bring in Internet connectivity into the mix, and make it more possible than ever to listen to content you may have missed.

byJoshB
on ‎08-20-201201:00 PM - last edited on ‎07-22-201301:37 PM by Laura

Welcome to the arena of online media: Apple TV vs. The Boxee Box. In the battle for market dominance, two competitors have arisen to duke it out. Today, we’ll be taking a detailed look at the well-established Apple TV – with a great track record, a history of reliability, and a long-standing infrastructure of popular Apple services... it’s going to be tough to beat. It’s up against a strong competitor. Sleek, stylish, and infinitely compatible, we have the Boxee Box – an exciting media device that’s powered by an ingenious open-source programming language. May the best tech win!

Offering a free Canadian phone number and 12-months free service, the netTALK Duo WiFi improves on the netTALK Duo by adding WiFi connectivity which gives users more latitude in how and where they can install the device. netTALK Duo WIFi also brings better security with Call Blocking and Call ID Blocking features.

Home automation controlled from a smartphone or tablet isn’t a novel concept now, but the way it’s implemented certainly varies. You have expensive systems that cover a lot of the home and can be controlled from within, but what if you had a less expensive way to control only the lights and appliances you really wanted to, even if you weren’t home? Belkin’s WeMo looks to be the beginning of such a strategy, especially since it’s designed to work with your iPhone or iPad.

Sony is stepping big into the Internet player space with their new device powered by Google TV. From the pre-release material we’ve been given (we’re getting demo units later in the month—I’m calling dibs now) this looks like it could be a worthy competitor to Apple TV.

Google and Apple may be competing more heavily with each other, given that Google Maps won’t be standard on iOS devices anymore, and the recently announced Nexus 7 tablet will try to take on the iPad. But there’s still some crossover between the two, much like the Chrome browser for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. How does it fare against Safari?

byRajio
on ‎06-20-201210:15 AM - last edited on ‎08-02-201302:59 PM by MartinR

It seems like just last year that 802.11n networking started proliferating in consumer level products. It's a fairly fast, secure, and reliable standard and a big jump from 802.11g. Dual-band routers, wireless encryption, and high speed data streaming has become much more common these days. Now theres something new on the WiFi horizon; the fifth generation wireless networking standard, dubbed 802.11ac.

There are a good few of us here on the Tech Blog who remember the days of the dialup modem. Heck, my dad bought a 2400 baud modem for our Apple IIe (I don’t think he ever got much use out of it though) back in the day. And if you remember the days of dialup you remember the sounds that your modem made when connecting to your ISP.